Getting to know datacenter employees: Padde Dujin

Microsoft’s success depends on our people. We are proud to introduce some of the talented folks in your community who work in our global datacenters. Discover what inspired them to pursue a career in the tech industry, the different pathways they pursued, and what a day in the life of a datacenter employee looks like.

Introducing Padde Duijn

Inventory and Asset Management Lead

North Holland

Employee since 2018

Padde Duijn grew up in the small town of Velsen-noord with his parents and big brother. He always had great support from his family, from childhood through today as he’s progressed in his career.

As a kid, Padde played on the soccer team and always had a ball at his feet. He also took an interest in computers from a young age, which helped spark future interest in Microsoft.

Padde credits hard work, a bit of luck, and great colleagues for his career success. One of Padde’s first jobs was as a security guard, working in banks and museums. He used downtime during night shifts to study, building his technology knowledge.

Padde next became a security supervisor in a small datacenter. He really liked the datacenter environment and next stepped into the security management team, working as vendor in a Microsoft datacenter. “During my six years working in several Microsoft datacenters, I’ve met a lot of great people who use the one-team approach. This approach encouraged me to apply for my first job at Microsoft as a Datacenter Project Manager.” Padde has now been an Inventory and Assessment Lead for a couple of months and enjoys being manager for a great team of professionals.

One of Padde’s superpowers is recognizing smaller achievements that can have a huge impact. Padde supported the creation of the Datacenter Academy (DCA) in North Holland and represented Microsoft at a career event at the DCA in Hoorn. “When you see how interested the students are and what a big impact that small 4×7 meter-sized mock datacenter can have, you realize the impact on society is sometimes bigger than just building and maintaining the datacenters.” Padde also thinks it’s important to put a smile on everyone’s face and listen to them.

Padde most likes when his workday involves challenging tasks or tasks with significant impact. These require everyone to work as a team with all departments working towards a common goal. “There’s a great feeling afterwards when we’ve achieved our goals and supported each other.”

Patat.

Padde’s favorite childhood food is patat (French fries); he loved getting to eat them after soccer games on Saturdays.
 
 
 
 
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